Experiment No.

02
Experiment Name: Flow through a Parshall flume
1.Introduction
❖ The problem with a Venturi flume is that there is a relatively small head difference between the
upstream section and the critical section. This problem can be overcome by designing a flume which
has a contracted throat section in which critical flow occurs followed by a short length of supercritical
flow and a hydraulic jump at the exit section.

❖ A flume of this type was designed by R.L. Parshall and is widely known as the Parshall flume.
Practically this type of flume is used in small irrigation canals for flow measurement purpose.

❖ It is better than all other devices discussed before as it is more accurate, can withstand a relatively
high degree of submergence over a wide range of backwater condition downstream from the structure
and it acts as a self-cleaning device due to the fact that high velocity washes out the debris and
sediments present in the flow.

❖ However, when a heavy burden of erosion debris is present in the stream, the Parshall flume becomes
invalid, because deposition of debris will produce undesirable result.

❖ Another problem which arises with this flume is that the fabrication is complicated and also fabrication
should be done as per requirement. This experiment deals with the measurement of discharge
using a Parshall flume.
Parshall flume :

❖ A Parshall flume consists of a broad flat converging section, a narrow downward sloping throat section and
an upward sloping diverging section. The reason of downward sloping throat section is to increase the head
difference between the upstream section and the critical section.
❖ The upward slope in the diverging section is given to produce a high tailwater depth which reduces the length
of the supercritical flow region.
❖ The Parshall flume is a fixed hydraulic structure originally developed to measure surface water and irrigation
flows.
❖ The Parshall flume is now frequently used to measure industrial discharges, municipal sewer flows, and
influent / effluent at wastewater treatment plants. Of all the flumes, the Parshall flume is the most recognized
and commonly used.
Development of the Parshall Flume

Development of the Parshall flume began in 1915 by Dr. R. L. Parshall of the U.S. Soil Conservation
Service. Using the sub-critical Venturi flume as his starting point, Dr. Parshall introduced several radical
modifications with his Improved Venturi Flume – the most greatest of which was a drop in elevation through
the throat of the flume. The drop produced supercritical flow through the throat of the flume. With
supercritical flow, only one head measurement is necessary to determine the flow rate, greatly simplifying
the use of the flume.
Design of the Parshall Flume
The design of the Parshall flume consists of a uniformly converging upstream section, a
short parallel throat section (the width of which determines the flume size), and a uniformly
diverging downstream section. The floor of the flume is flat in the upstream section, slopes
downward in the throat, and then rises in the downstream section; ending with a
downstream elevation below that of the upstream elevation.

2.1 Design of Parshall flume

Design of the Parshall Flume Contd…
Design of the Parshall Flume Contd…

2.2 Plan and elevation of parshall flume

In case of Free flow condition:
The Parshall flume is a calibrated device i.e. there exists a definite depth-
discharge relationship for the flume. So, analytic determination of theoretical
discharge is not required for this flume.
The values of C and n depend on the throat width and are given in the following table

Table -1
In case of Free flow condition:
Coefficient of discharge:
If the actual discharge Qa is measured by the water meter, the coefficient of discharge is given by
Cdf= Qa/Qtf (at free flow condition)
Cds= Qa/Qts (at submerged flow condition)

In case of Submerged flow condition:

The percentage of submergence for the Parshall flume is given by 100Hb/Ha. Hb is the downstream
depth measured from the invert datum. When the percentage of submergence exceeds 0.6, the
discharge through the Parshall flume is reduced.
Table 2
The discharge (Q) can be found using the following:
Qnet= Qfree flow - Qcorrection
Qcorrection= M (0.000132 Ha2.123 e9.284St)
Where Q is in ft3/s, Ha is in feet.
In case of Submerged flow condition:
For submerged flow, a depth of flow needs to be taken upstream (Ha) and downstream (Hb)

Table-3
2. Objectives of the experiment:
1. Observation of the flow characteristics for the increasing upstream level
2. Observation of the effect of submergence
3. To plot actual discharge with respect to theoretical discharge and to determine the value of
Co-efficient of discharge
4. Determination of the exponent of Ha

3. Experiment setup

2.3 Setup for flow through a parshall flume

4.Requried apparatus:
a) Parshall flume
b) Flow measuring unit
c) Pump
d) Reservoir
e) Water meter
5.Working Procedure:
Free flow condition:

1. Measure the Ha
2. Record Qa
3. Compute Qtf
4. Compute Cdf

For Submerge Condition:

1. Measure the Ha and Hb
2. Compute Qtf
3. Compute Submergence Hb/Ha
4. Find Qcorrection
5. Find Qts
6. Record Qa
7. Find Cds
 5. DATA SHEET
Channel with, b=7.60 cm
Throat width, w=3.10 cm
No of Actual Free flow condition Submerged flow condition Mean
Obs. Discharge Cds
Qa (cm3/s) Ha Qthf Cdf Mean Ha Hb Submergence (%) Qth Cds
(cm) (cm3/s) Cdf (cm) (cm) =Ha/Hb*100 (cm3/s)

1. 500 7.0 7.50 3.35

2. 600 8.0 8.40 3.90
3. 700 8.7 8.85 4.15
4. 800 9.4 9.70 5.0
5. 900 10.0 10.20 5.50
6. 1000 11.00 11.30 5.90
Example of Calculation
6. Calculation

Graphs

8. Results

9. Discussion
Assignment:
1. What are the advantage, disadvantage and use of a Parshall flume?
2. What is the difference between free and submerged flows?
3. How can you produce submerged flow in a laboratory flume?
4. What is the effect of submergence on the flow?